Ramit’s post prompted me to read the original New York Times article. I began the piece planning to offer my own criticisms of Whitney and his get rich quick schemes. But two-thirds through the article, I realized there were actually two stories here: one about Whitney’s brash hucksterism, and another about the people — like Casey Serin — who are so desperate to get rich now that they lose touch with reality.

Midway through the article we meet Tracie Taylor, who is leading Millionaire U, a three-day real estate training course for “advanced” students. Most of the students don’t actually know much about real estate, so Taylor is giving them the basics. She’s also touting goals, positive thinking, and visualization (all excellent tools when used correctly).

Taylor knew early that her class of advanced students was strictly remedial. Assessing them, she found that only 8 of 40 had invested in real estate before. The infomercial had talked of buying and quickly selling houses, and those who enrolled seemed largely unaware of the real estate slump.

[...]

They were eager to be good students, but blurted out terrible answers. “Where did you guys study math?” Taylor asked. Later, she realized that not one student could even name the world’s richest man. “People with goals are the ones who succeed,” she lectured, and she assigned her class the homework of compiling a hundred goals. The next day, when she asked all who had completed the homework to stand, the doctor rose, stunned to find himself alone. “Why are you surprised?” Taylor asked him.

Wow.

This knocked me off my feet: forty people who want to get rich are asked to come up with a list of goals, but only one person completes the assignment. These people haven’t got a clue. They’re going to return home with a thick binder of PowerPoint slides and a pile of credit card debt, but no real understanding of how to achieve their dreams.

There is no quick road to riches.

There are, however, well-worn paths that lead to the slow accumulation of wealth. These paths all require work and self-discipline. The more work you do and the more self-discipline you can muster, the quicker you will accumulate wealth. These slow, sure paths to wealth also require goals. (Apparently even the quick road to riches requires goals.) I don’t mind that the seminar participants didn’t know who the world’s richest man is — it’s Bill Gates — but it bothers me that they weren’t willing to create a list of goals.

Goals are the fundamental building blocks of success, not just in personal finance, but in every area of life. Without goals, you are living reactively, letting life push you around. With goals, you can live a proactive life, steering toward a destination. When you have an end in mind, it’s easier to see when you’ve made a wrong turn. You know where your path is supposed to lead.

No matter the state of your personal finances, whether you’re wealthy or poor or somewhere in between, take time to set goals. State them in positive terms. Make them specific. Put a deadline on achieving them. Make them actionable. Write them down. Work a little toward them every day. (It’s much easier to achieve goals when you focus on the individual steps toward them.)

When I was young, I had crazy goals like: “I want to be rich by the time I’m 30.” That was a fun goal, but it didn’t mesh with my reality. I was acquiring debt. I was moving away from wealth, not toward it. A better goal would have been: “I will get out of debt in three years.” Or “I will research online college programs and take 4 classes toward my degree this year.” Or “I will contribute $200 monthly to my savings account.” These are realistic, achievable goals, and one toward which I could make progress every day, if even just a little.

As my financial situation worsened and I became overwhelmed by debt, I gave up on goals of any sort. This just made matters worse. Without goals, I was going around in circles, caught in a debt cycle from which there seemed to be no escape. It was only once I set goals for myself again — realistic goals — that I was able to begin my escape from debt hell.

A decade ago I might have attended one of Whitney’s seminars (if I could have afforded it). I was convinced there were secret roads to quick riches, if only I could find them. I’m glad to have discovered the slow, sure path to wealth. I still struggle to stay on course — sometimes losing sight of my goals — but I do my best. I’m glad to have all of you along for the journey.

I think one of the big reasons why people always try to find the “short-cut route” to getting rich is because they think that’s how people like Bill Gates did it. When in actuality they have NO IDEA how Bill Gates got to where he is now. They have no idea about the history between Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Steve Jobs (Apple). They have no idea about the backstory, and most people don’t care to learn about the backstory because they can’t comprehend the idea of “learning from the past.”
(But if you do want to know I recommend watching Pirates of Silicon Valley)

Everything today is “fast” and “now” and “immediate” and while that’s all well and good, people forget that there was a time before “now” and it holds a wealth of information if you just stop and think about it for a minute.

Definitely an interesting story. It amazes me that so many people paid that much money to listen to a short speech about real estate. Heck, down south, you can get a semester at a small college for that much money! But, I guess those folks were looking for quick answers. It’s just sad.

With site’s like this and Ramit’s on the web, it always blows me away to hear about people with massive amounts of CC debt. Hearing their stories always bums me out, but then to hear that their problems were compounded by some scam…ouch.

Great article! I see so many people in my family trying to ‘get rich quick’ and it makes me sad. My dad got stuck in the mindset for years and really kind of scared our family. He’d lost a lot of his retirement due to my mother’s long, drawn out battle with illness, and he thrashed around trying to get it back quickly. Thank God he’s at heart a practical person, and most of his schemes stayed at the scheme stage.

With site’s like this and Ramit’s on the web, it always blows me away to hear about people with massive amounts of CC debt.

It doesn’t amaze me, but that’s probaby because I used to be one of those people. It starts simply enough. You tell yourself that you can afford a treat, that you deserve it, that it’s not that expensive. That feels good, and doesn’t seem to cost anything, so you do it again. And again. And again.

Soon you’re into the guilt stage, and that creates its own vicious cycle of spending. Then comes the oppressive weight of the life you’ve built. It sucks.

But these things happen because people don’t have goals. When you have goals, it’s easier to catch yourself when you’re doing something stupid. The stupid stuff doesn’t mesh well with the goals, and so it’s clear that you’re doing something wrong…

Unfortunately, this theme is a common one. I don’t know if I always “knew” that the “well-worn paths” were the way to accumulate wealth. However, since I was part of the “rat race” and apparently not creative or daring enough to start a business, etc…they seemed the reasonable way for me to go in order to achieve my goals.

What I struggle with these days is whether or not I can challenge myself to do better…but not through “get rich quick” methods, but rather by overcoming the inertia to just “stay the course” as I have been.

Basically, this means being less lazy and I believe that is the missing piece of the puzzle for many of these people. I often find these kinds of people have “plans” and “goals”, but not the “will” to do what is needed to realize them.

This is where I have much in common with them in that I too am lazy and am lack “will”…but perhaps just a bit less so.

Could.not.agree.more. It’s so sad to see who goes to the financial/realestate/scam seminars, I am very much against them. First, they create cult of personality, second, they cost tons of money, third, nothing is learned that cannot be learned by disciplined research and studying, and fourth, they can do real damage (such as RK’s boy CS).

I am 58 years old and have been working since college. I have looked at the different get rich schemes over the years and have determined that they work well for the guy who figures it out in the first place. Ultimately you are responsible for your problems, which is simple enough, only we today are looking for someone to blame. If you have goals to follow, written, printed, framed or planted in your mind, this is your road map. My main goal has been my family. Provide for them, watch them grow into good people, and enjoy life. Now it has become think and grow rich as Napleon Hill quoted, not get rich quick. Find something you enjoy personally and develop that into a fun business. Develop your goals as you go and don’t hestate to revise your direction. Stay flexible and enjoy. You only have one life to live so live it.

Having clear set goals is a place to start. As was mentioned earlier, the follow through is where most fail. It’s great to have certain goals, but if you don’t have a way of holding yourself accountable, they’re pretty much wishes. Try carrying a notecard around in your pocket with a couple succint goals and reading them a couple times everyday. Do whatever works for you, but give yourself an attainment date, and hold yourself accountable to it.

It sounds as if it would be useful for me to write about actively pursuing goals once you’ve set them. A couple of you have mentioned this, and I have problems with it too. Limeade is right: one of the keys is to keep your goals in front of you all the time so that you’re constantly reminded of them. It’s easy to get wrapped up in day-to-day life and to lose sight of goals…

[...] site is about. I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!After writing that the road to wealth is paved with goals, I realized that my own list of goals looks a little ragged. Some of the goals are outdated. Many [...]

[...] POSTS — Can you afford to follow your dreams? Can you afford NOT to? — The Road to Wealth is Paved with Goals — Make a Wish List of Financial Goals — The #1 Mistake People Make When Using the Law [...]

[...] Casey Serin is the Napoleon Dynamite of real estate investing. He took real estate seminars from Russ Whitney and read books by Carleton Sheets. He bought into the “get rich quick” mentality. In [...]

Great article. I am looking to make some changes this new year, and I really need some successes. I feel like my wife and I are programmed to spend everything. Last year we had only our home debt (379K) in January. I pay taxes and insurance, no escrow.

Now at the start of this year I have 14K in credit cards, 17K car loan, and 371K home loan. Yikes! I think I said “Yes we can spend that” When I should ahve said “No!!!”

I am not communicating well about our financials. I do everything since my wife doesn’t like to. She pays all the bills and budgets at work.

ANyways, thanks for the article and for those of you who shared ideas and encouragement.

I read the Russ Whitney article 2 years ago. I am a veteran of personal development and business seminars. I have invested thousands of dollars. At one seminar, I met a man who had purchased 24 houses in 18 months and had nothing to show for it but debt. His solution was to attend another seminar. I have been an active real estate investor since 2001. My strategy is buy, hold and invest for income. It is not a fast strategy at all and it is a strategy limited by smaller economies of scale. (higher expenses relative to cashflow). No seminar, even a seminar on goals will replace financial intelligence, self-study, self motivation and simple goals. Goals can be overdone. I recommend that folks read the working paper by 4 business school professors. It can be found by googling “goals gone wild”

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” -Lewis Carroll

Hey J.D.,

Goals are life’s guides.

We make a conscious choice of what we want out of life. What makes us happiest, what we’re passionate about, what’s important to us. Then, we set goals to achieve things that bring those things into our life.

Goals give us direction.

It’s not that we’re living on some soul-sucking rigid schedule or anything – not at all. We are just aligning ourselves to maximize life and effectively do what we want. We enjoy the process of getting there, plus we actually get there faster, freeing up time and energy to do even more awesomeness.

Patients, self control and goals… The biggest thing is to forget about looking rich. Just because people have stuff doesn’t mean that they really have anything in their bank. Stick to your goals! Good luck.

This has really blessed me. you know what? my goals have been in me, never written down, and I find it difficult to actualize them. As I was reading this piece, I quickly wrote them down, trusting God to help me attain them.Nice piece.

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